Pakistan suffer shock loss against Ireland as T20 World Cup looms

Pakistan’s preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cup suffered an almighty jolt when they were defeated by Ireland by 5 wickets.

Pakistan batted first after they lost the toss with captain Babar Azam top scoring with 57 runs as the Men in Green posted 182/6 after 20 overs.

With the help of Andrew Balbirnie’s 77, Ireland chased down the total in 19.5 overs to go 1-0 up in the 3-match series.

Except for Babar, opener Saim Ayub and Iftikhar Ahmed who scored 45 and 37 respectively, the rest of the Pakistan batting lineup flattered to deceive with Mohammad Rizwan (0), Fakhar Zaman (20), Azam Khan (0) and Shadab Khan (0) all failing.

Babar had returned as captain recently as Shaheen Shah Afridi’s stint lasted just one T20 series.

Pakistan are in Group A in the T20 World Cup 2024 with arch-rivals India as well as Canada, USA and Ireland. The high voltage clash between India and Pakistan is slated for June 9.

A couple of weeks ago, Pakistan Cricket board had announced three key personal to take charge of the Pakistan men’s cricket team: Jason Gillespie will take charge of the Pakistan cricket team for the red-ball format while Gary Kirsten will manage the team in white-ball games. Meanwhile, Azhar Mahmood has also been confirmed as an assistant coach across all formats for the Pakistan men’s team.

The three appointments were made for a two-year period following a recruitment process, PCB had said in a press release.

Kirsten is currently in India as batting coach with the Indian Premier League franchise Gujarat Titans. Under him, India had won the 2011 ODI World Cup and reached the No 1 position on the ICC Test Team Rankings. Kirsten takes charge of Pakistan at a crucial juncture: the next two years will see ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, next year’s ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan, ACC T20 Asia Cup 2025 and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka.

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